The 2008 North West 200 took place on Saturday 17 May at the 8.966 mile circuit, dubbed "The Triangle", based around the towns of Coleraine, Portrush and Portstewart, in Northern Ireland. The meeting was overshadowed by the death of Northern Irish rider Robert Dunlop, the record-holder for wins at the circuit, who was killed in a practice crash on 15 May. The 47-year-old had been travelling in a group of three riders at the Mather's Cross section of the course, when his bike seized at 160 mph. He would later succumb to his injuries in a Coleraine hospital. Robert's sons Michael and William continued to race at the meeting, with Michael winning the 250cc race.
John McGuinness dominated qualifying for the 250cc race, the first to be contested on race day. McGuinness went round the 8.966 mile circuit in a time of 4'57.791, the only rider to break five minutes and qualified on pole by over 3 seconds from the Hondas of Michael Dunlop and Paul Robinson. Hondas took the first eight places on the grid, with Henrik Voit's Aprilia the best non-Honda in ninth. McGuinness also dominated Superbike practice, being fastest both on Tuesday and on Thursday. Having achieved a 4'25.377 on Tuesday, he lowered that mark by over 3 seconds to a 4'22.342 on Thursday. Michael Rutter on the NW200-backed Ducati qualified 2nd on a 4'22.999, with the rest in the 4'24s or higher. This session sets the grid for both Superbike races. Steve Plater qualified on pole for the Supersport races, recording a lap of 4'33.749 on Thursday to put him half a second clear of Alastair Seeley, who qualified second, with Keith Amor qualifying 3rd, to give three different nations placed in the top three places. Amor would go two places better in the qualifying session for the Superstock race. In the fourth session, he set a time of 4'26.446, which would give him the pole by over 1.5 seconds. Seeley was second with his time of 4'28.029 coming in session three and Rutter was third, with a 4'28.138 set in session four. Michael Wilcox was the clear pacesetter in the 125cc qualifying, setting a pole lap of 5'17.528 and was on top by nearly three seconds from the Aprilia of David Lemon with the Hondas of Mark Curtin, Michael Dunlop and Chris Palmer rounding out the top five. Leo Aldersley's Yamaha was fastest in the 400cc session, which occurred at the same time as the 125cc session as those two races are contested in the one race, albeit separated on track. His 5'15.329 was almost three seconds faster than second placed qualifier and fellow Yamaha rider, Oliver Linsdell. Les Shand's Kawasaki was third, with the best Honda belonging to Manxman David Madsen-Mygdal lining up fourth.
Saturday 17 May 2008 4 laps – 35.724 miles
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time | Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Dunlop | Honda 250cc | 19' 34.316 | 109.516 mph | |
| 2 | Christian Elkin | Honda 250cc | + 1.029 | 109.420 mph | |
| 3 | John McGuinness | Honda 250cc | + 1.763 | 109.352 mph | |
| 4 | Paul Robinson | Honda 250cc | + 22.725 | 107.437 mph | |
| 5 | Andrew Neill | Honda 250cc | + 24.543 | 107.274 mph | |
| 6 | Davy Morgan | Honda 250cc | + 24.614 | 107.268 mph | |
| 7 | Denver Robb | Honda 250cc | + 39.308 | 105.969 mph | |
| 8 | Mark Lunney | Honda 250cc | + 42.014 | 105.733 mph | |
| 9 |  Emlyn Hughes | Honda 250cc | + 42.504 | 105.961 mph | |
| 10 | Neil Richardson | Yamaha 250cc | + 44.434 | 105.531 mph |
Fastest Lap: Michael Dunlop, 4'51.975 on lap 4 (110.549 mph; 177.911 km/h)
Saturday 17 May 2008 *5 laps – 44.690 miles
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time | Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Rutter | Ducati | 21' 52.169 | 122.609 mph | |
| 2 | Guy Martin | + 0.810 | 122.534 mph | ||
| 3 | John McGuinness | Honda | + 0.956 | 122.510 mph | |
| 4 | Steve Plater | Yamaha YZF-R | + 1.192 | 121.658 mph | |
| 5 | Gary Johnson | Honda | + 10.257 | 120.979 mph | |
| 6 |  Bruce Anstey | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | + 17.682 | 120.979 mph | |
| 7 | Ian Hutchinson | Yamaha | + 17.970 | 120.953 mph | |
| 8 | Ryan Farquhar | Kawasaki ZX-10R | + 18.386 | 120.915 mph | |
| 9 | Denver Robb | Suzuki | + 27.118 | 120.127 mph | |
| 10 | Keith Amor | Honda | + 41.841 | 118.820 mph |
Saturday 17 May 2008 5 laps – 44.690 miles
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve Plater | Yamaha YZF-R6 | 22'46.632 | ||
| 2 | Alastair Seeley | Yamaha | 22'49.619 | + 2.987 | |
| 3 | Ian Lougher | Yamaha | 22'50.366 | + 3.734 | |
| 4 | Ian Hutchinson | Yamaha | 22'50.813 | + 4.181 | |
| 5 | Ryan Farquhar | Kawasaki | 22'51.092 | + 4.460 | |
| 6 | Keith Amor | Honda | 22'51.288 | + 4.656 | |
| 7 | Guy Martin | Honda | 22'51.866 | + 5.234 | |
| 8 | Gary Johnson | Honda | 22'52.396 | + 5.764 | |
| 9 | John McGuinness | Honda | 22'54.799 | + 8.167 | |
| 10 | Conor Cummins | Yamaha | 22'55.173 | + 8.541 |
Saturday 17 May 2008 4 laps – 35.724 miles
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Wilcox | Honda | 21'10.496 | ||
| 2 | Chris Palmer | Honda | 21'10.673 | + 0.177 | |
| 3 | James Ford | Honda | 21'20.006 | + 9.510 | |
| 4 | Mark Lunney | Honda | 21'23.032 | + 12.536 | |
| 5 | Mark Curtin | Honda | 21'23.596 | + 13.100 | |
| 6 | Graham Wilson | Honda | 21'24.652 | + 14.156 | |
| 7 | Stephan Savelkouls | Honda | 21'47.464 | + 36.968 | |
| 8 | David Ferguson | Honda | 21'50.154 | + 39.658 | |
| 9 | Tim Stott | Honda | 21'50.437 | + 39.941 | |
| 10 | Nigel Moore | Honda | 21'50.668 | + 40.172 |
Saturday 17 May 2008 4 laps – 35.724 miles
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oliver Linsdell | Yamaha | 20'38.949 | ||
| 2 | Paul Dobbs | Yamaha | 21'03.441 | + 24.492 | |
| 3 | Les Shand | Kawasaki | 21'04.150 | + 25.201 | |
| 4 | Joe Phillips | Kawasaki | 21'04.319 | + 25.370 | |
| 5 | John Barton | Kawasaki | 21'05.398 | + 26.449 | |
| 6 | Alan Brown | Suzuki | 21'10.235 | + 31.286 | |
| 7 | David Madsen-Mygdal | Honda | 21'13.993 | + 35.044 | |
| 8 | Michael Sweeney | Honda | 21'17.834 | + 38.885 | |
| 9 | Coyles Wright | Suzuki | 21'29.098 | + 50.149 | |
| 10 | Ian Whitlow | Suzuki | 21'55.007 | + 1'16.058 |
Saturday 17 May 2008 5 laps – 44.690 miles
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alastair Seeley | Yamaha | 22'08.828 | ||
| 2 | Bruce Anstey | Suzuki | 22'09.363 | + 0.535 | |
| 3 |  Cameron Donald | Suzuki | 22'09.583 | + 0.755 | |
| 4 | Guy Martin | Honda | 22'10.136 | + 1.308 | |
| 5 | Keith Amor | Honda | 22'10.269 | + 1.441 | |
| 6 | Ryan Farquhar | Kawasaki | 22'11.671 | + 2.843 | |
| 7 | Gary Johnson | Honda | 22'16.745 | + 7.917 | |
| 8 | Conor Cummins | Yamaha | 22'23.426 | + 14.598 | |
| 9 | Rob Frost | Yamaha | 22'29.852 | + 21.024 | |
| 10 | Les Shand | Yamaha | 22'30.633 | + 21.805 |
Saturday 17 May 2008 6 laps – 53.656 miles
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve Plater | Yamaha | 26'17.157 | ||
| 2 | Cameron Donald | Suzuki | 26'17.744 | + 0.587 | |
| 3 | Michael Rutter | Ducati | 26'18.495 | + 1.338 | |
| 4 | Bruce Anstey | Suzuki | 26'18.692 | + 1.535 | |
| 5 | John McGuinness | Honda | 26'18.915 | + 1.758 | |
| 6 | Gary Johnson | Honda | 26'20.874 | + 3.717 | |
| 7 | Keith Amor | Honda | 26'30.113 | + 12.956 | |
| 8 | Ian Hutchinson | Yamaha | 26'31.163 | + 14.006 | |
| 9 | Ryan Farquhar | Kawasaki | 26'50.132 | + 32.975 | |
| 10 | Denver Robb | Suzuki | 26'51.260 | + 34.103 |
Saturday 17 May 2008 5 laps – 44.690 miles
| Rank | Rider | Team | Time | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve Plater | Yamaha | 22'41.258 | ||
| 2 | Alastair Seeley | Yamaha | 22'41.391 | + 0.133 | |
| 3 | Ian Lougher | Yamaha | 22'43.218 | + 1.960 | |
| 4 | Steve Brogan | Honda | 22'46.694 | + 5.436 | |
| 5 | Keith Amor | Honda | 22'46.795 | + 5.537 | |
| 6 | Gary Johnson | Honda | 23'02.936 | + 21.678 | |
| 7 | Cameron Donald | Suzuki | 23'03.409 | + 22.151 | |
| 8 | John McGuinness | Honda | 23'06.462 | + 25.204 | |
| 9 | Les Shand | Suzuki | 23'28.676 | + 47.418 | |
| 10 | James McBride | Yamaha | 23'32.998 | + 51.740 |